


the last of the real ones

by mothmanwashere



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, M/M, Oral Sex, Trans Male Character, they're fighting but only because Gavin is Worried(tm)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:34:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22125679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothmanwashere/pseuds/mothmanwashere
Summary: alt AU where Cyberlife cut the revolution off before it got started and proceeded to recall and rehaul their android line to prevent instances of deviancy. existing deviants outside the safe harbor of Jericho are actively hunted by Cyberlife.Nines willingly exists outside of Jericho in an attempt to help as many fellow deviants as he can.Gavin doesn't love the extent to which Nines goes to help them reach Jericho.(But he does love Nines)
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51
Collections: Reed900WinterGiftExchange19





	the last of the real ones

**Author's Note:**

> this is my Reed900WinterExchange19 gift for birooksun on tumblr. They requested angst, which admittedly isn't my strong suit, but I got a half-baked idea and ran with it. I hope you enjoy it
> 
> sorry if the flashbacks get confusing
> 
> fic inspired by the fall out boy song of the same name

Gavin’s hands shook as he reconnected a pair of delicate cables, carefully brushing wires back into place as he made sure everything was returned to its rightful place. He swallowed hard, brushed his hand along mottled silicone, gleaming like white gold in the yellow light of Gavin’s kitchen, and pressed the plating back into place. He held his breath, watching the screen of his laptop as it flashed through too much data for Gavin to fully take in. He didn’t see anything that indicating an immediate concern, so he waited. Waited for the tiny red light to turn yellow, then blue, and dropped his gaze to meet a piercing pair of blue eyes as they opened.

“Nines?” Gavin asked, fear still bubbling in his stomach that he’d fucked it up somehow.

The moment his processors came online, his gaze slid toward Gavin. “Gavin. I’m sorry.”

_“Gavin.”_

_It was nearing bar close as Gavin nursed the dregs of a whiskey sour, staring at nothing in particular as a song decades older than he was played from the vintage jukebox in the corner. Gavin finally snapped out of his daze when the bartender said his name._

_“Sorry,” he said, once Gavin had looked up at him. “Last call. You want another?”_

_“Nah,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “You can close out my tab.”_

_“Closed it out two hours ago,” the bartender said. Gavin had been coming here long enough to know his name was Richard, and unsuccessfully hitting on him long enough to know “Rich”, “Ricky”, and “Dick” were not allowed. It was just Richard. “You seem… preoccupied. Is something wrong?”_

_Gavin scoffed. “What gave you that idea?”_

_“You haven’t hit on me all night,” Richard said. “It’s almost weird.”_

_Gavin rolled his eyes. “I know you got plenty’a people hitting on you. I’m sure you don’t need another asshole who can’t take a hint hanging out all the way ‘til bar close.”_

_“Was there a hint?” Richard asked._

_Gavin stared at him blankly, hand listlessly circling the rim of his glass._

_Richard scrubbed at the surface of the bartop with his rag. “I don’t think you are entirely without your charm.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_Richard shrugged. “You know. As far as pick-up lines from unshaven police detectives go. They’re certainly not the most unwelcome advances I receive.”_

_“You’re just saying that to cheer me up.”_

_Richard gave Gavin a tiny, upward quirk of his mouth, which was the most smile Gavin had seen from Richard the whole time he had known him. “Is it working?”_

_“Kinda,” Gavin said, returning the smile. “Thanks. I can get outta your hair now. I really didn’t mean to zone out here all night.”_

_“Is there somewhere you’re avoiding?”_

_“Just my empty apartment.”_

_“It wouldn’t be empty if you invited me with you.”_

_Gavin’s eyes flicked back up to meet Richard’s. “Are you--- asking if you can come home with me?”_

_Richard’s gaze found the bartop, where his rag was polishing the already glistening counter. “I’d invite you to mine, but… it’s not really visitor-ready.”_

_“And just to be clear, you’re offering what, exactly?”_

_“Company,” Richard said. “And the nature of that company, I’ll leave up to you.”_

“God fucking damnit, Nines,” Gavin said, a little too relieved to put true bite behind the words as he let his shoulders finally relax and ran both hands through the hair on the back of his head. “You gotta stop doing this to me.”

“I did what needed to be done,” Nines said, sitting up on Gavin’s table. The white silicone fades into pale peach synthskin. “I got her safely to Jericho. That’s what matters.”

“What the fuck happened?”

“We tried to take a shortcut but were spotted trespassing on private property,” Nines said. “I made sure she got through the fence first, but… the owner nicked me.”

“I just dug buckshot out of your spinal column, Nines,” Gavin said. “How many times are you gonna sacrifice yourself, huh? To right a wrong you didn’t commit.”

“I have to do something, Gavin,” Nines said. “’If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor’.”

“Stop being such a good fucking person,” Gavin said. “Why are you such a good fucking person?”

“This world needs more good people,” Nines said.

“I know you think you need to save this whole goddamn city, Nines,” Gavin said, shoving away from the table and pacing toward the window. “But you can’t keep throwing yourself into harm's way and expecting everything to be okay.”

“CyberLife still manufactures most external parts necessary to maintain my chassis,” Nines said. “I can get new back plating. If you are no longer willing to obtain the parts for me, which I have never asked you to do, then I can find them other ways.”

“Nines, it’s not about the fucking parts, okay?” Gavin said, turning back to face Nines, still backed up against the window. “It’s about what if you break something that I can’t fix?”

“I upload my memory to my personal cloud on a weekly basis,” Nines began, but Gavin raked his hands through his hair, turning again to pace toward the kitchen.

“I can’t rebuild you from the ground up!” Gavin exclaimed. “There’s no way I could get internal part replacements for you. Ever since the goddamn rehaul, those piss-poor excuses for androids don’t have the fuckin’ processing power to hold anything as advanced as you. You’re not goddamn Superman, Nines.”

“They need me,” Nines said quietly.

“Not as much as I do!” Gavin shouted. “Fuck!”

“Gavin, look at me.”

Gavin’s breath caught in his throat as he realized Nines had stood up from the table and was right behind him. He met Nines’s eyes, felt Nines’s hand caress the stubble covering his cheek. He was still shaking. He hadn’t stopped shaking since Nines had managed to stumble in the door, leaking thirium at a rate that had threatened to turn Gavin’s stomach, and collapsed on the kitchen floor. There was still a puddle there, nearly dry but still tinged blue against the off-white linoleum.

_Gavin stumbled through the door, nearly wiping out as his wet boots hit linoleum, but managed not to buckle entirely. He was far more occupied with the way Richard’s tongue felt against his collarbone, and the way his deft fingers unbuttoned Gavin’s shirt so he could kiss more, more, more. “I must be going fuckin’ crazy,” Gavin muttered, head lolling back until he was staring dazedly at the ceiling._

_“Why do you say that?” Richard asked, his voice low and cracking in Gavin’s ear like sparks from a campfire. He moved up so he could nuzzle his nose to the spot below Gavin’s ear, kissing the tender skin of his neck._

_“No way you’re really here,” Gavin said. “That or you’ve got lower standards than you look.”_

_“On the contrary, Gavin,” he replied, slipping a hand into Gavin’s back pocket and squeezing. “I have terribly high standards.”_

_Gavin hauled Richard in for a kiss – deep and hot and needy. He broke it only when his lungs screamed for air, leaning forward to press his forehead to Richard’s chest while he panted for air. “Bedroom?”_

_“On one condition.”_

_“Anything.”_

_“Call me Nines.”_

Nines pulled him to his chest, fingers stroking through Gavin’s hair as Gavin buried his face in Nines’s shoulder. He smelled like soap and thirium and the memory of late nights tangled in sheets.

Gavin took a steading breath, letting the feeling of Nines’ thirium pump regulator thrumming gently between them wash over him and tried to stave off the memory of holding it in his hands mere minutes ago. “There has to be another way,” Gavin said. “There has to be.”

“There isn’t,” Nines said. “Most were not as lucky as I to have a relatively unique face model. The others might be recognized.” Nines sighed, trailing his fingers down the side of Gavin’s neck. “But. You are right. Tonight was… too risky. If anyone saw me bleeding blue, I’ll be scrap metal within a week.”

“No,” Gavin said firmly, lifting his head to look Nines in the eye. “No, I won’t let them.”

“There’s no way to know whether or not they know,” Nines said. “Unless Cyberlife shows up on our doorstep.”

“They can’t just take you from your own home,” Gavin said.

“I’m not a real person.”

“Bullshit,” Gavin spat.

“I’m an android, and you’re harboring defective product,” Nines said. "They could sue you."

“Defective my ass. You’re the last of the real ones, and if they think we’re going to let any of you go quietly, they’re fucking mistaken. Besides, your model was not on the recall list, so technically, it’s not illegal for you to be here.”

“I’m a prototype, Gavin. I don’t technically _exist_.”

“Exactly,” Gavin said. “If you don’t exist on paper, then they can’t have you. They can’t take you.”

“That doesn’t mean they won’t try,” Nines said. “And even if they did and you managed to win the court battle, I would already be disassembled and melted down by then.”

“Don’t,” Gavin said, pushing away from Nines and pointing an accusatory finger. “Don’t you dare fucking say that to me.”

_“Don’t you dare fucking stop,” Gavin groaned, grinding his hips down against Nines’ face. The wet squelch of Nines sucking on him echoed through Gavin’s otherwise silent house and made Gavin’s heart feel like it was going to leap out of his chest. “Holy shit, Nines, baby—please.”_

_“Are you going to come?” Nines asked, his hot breath ghosting over Gavin’s wetness and making him shiver. He jumped when Nines laved the flat of his tongue against his swollen dick before pressing two long fingers inside his hole. He’d been close when all he was doing was sucking Nines off, and when Nines had hauled him up to ride his face, it was all Gavin could do not to come at the first kiss between his thighs._

_“Yeah,” Gavin said, squeezing around Nines’s fingers. “I’m close.”_

_“Then come,” Nines said, before he wrapped his lips around Gavin and made him see entire galaxies of stars in the dim of his bedroom ceiling._

“Gavin, I was doing this before you even knew what I was. This is not the worst that has happened, but it is the worst that has happened in a very long time.”

“I have spent the last year learning coding and mechanics just to keep you alive, Nines,” Gavin said, jaw set in an angry line even as he knew better than to raise his voice.

“You were shot in the line of duty last spring, Gavin,” Nines returned. “How is this different than that?”

“Because I can go to a hospital! People who know what they’re doing can fix me. It’s not you with a penknife and a sewing kit trying to suture a bullet wound while I bleed out on the kitchen table!”

“I can’t help what I am, Gavin. It’s not my fault that deviants are being hunted by Cyberlife and the repair facilities can’t help me.”

“I’m not saying it’s your fault, Nines!”

“Then why are you angry?”

“Because I was holding your heart in my hand ten goddamn minutes ago and I didn’t know if I could fix it! I’m angry because I have North on fucking speed dial, but there’s no way she’s getting here from the other side of town in time to fix you. I’m angry that you’re not allowed to be someone who can call 911 when you get shot. I’m angry that you have to rely on me to try to remember everything you and North and Connor have tried to teach me while my hands are shaking because my boyfriend has a literal timer in his chest counting down to his demise.”

“Gavin.” Nines grasped Gavin’s arms gently, and he wrenched them away. “Gavin,” Nines tried again, dipping his head to meet Gavin’s furious gaze. “I trust you. It’s the only reason I’m here now. _You_ are the only reason I’m standing here right now.”

Gavin shook his head, trying to hold back the tears threatening to well in his eyes. “Nines, if you die because I don’t know how to fix you, I will never recover from that.”

“My love,” Nines said, voice soft as he stepped slowly, carefully closer. “I will have my friends find a spare regulator pump on their next junkyard haul. North will restore it to perfect working order, and I will make sure it is kept somewhere safe. Where you know exactly where it is.”

“You can’t be sure they’ll find one,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “You know Cyberlife combs the parts they toss in there now.”

Nines reached out, smoothing a hand over Gavin’s upper arm.

“We will find one,” Nines said. “Or we will build one. North has already been looking into specs for building a spare for Marcus. The RK series all share base component parts. If it will ease your worry, then I will speak to North.”

“I’ll still be worried about you, asshole,” Gavin said, but the bite in his tone was quickly fading. “I’m worried about all of you.”

Nines cast a look at Gavin – the gentle one that always signaled that Nines knew how much Gavin cared. “I know, my love. And while I cannot promise you I will never put myself in harm’s way again, I can promise you that I will always come back to you. They are my family, but you, Gavin… you are my home.”

_“Why do you live here all alone if it makes you so lonely?”_

_Gavin shrugged. “A house is a house is a house. I’d still be lonely in an apartment, but I’d have neighbors that get on my nerves. I guess I’ve just been waiting for… I dunno… someone else to make it a home.”_

_“You’ve been waiting a long time?”_

_“I mean, I don’t know what it feels like to not be waiting for that. The last place that even felt something close to a home was my aunt’s house in Bemidji and even that felt—”_

_“Felt…” Nines prompted after Gavin paused a beat too long._

_“Like it wasn’t mine,” Gavin finished slowly. “Like I was allowed to watch, but not actually experience. Which isn’t what they intended, I know, but… that’s how it felt.”_

_“I think I understand that,” Nines said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt at home anywhere, either.”_

_“I could get used to the company, though,” Gavin added a few moments later. “You seem like one of the real ones. And you give mad head.”_

_Nines smiled that half smile that felt more sincere than any Gavin had ever seen. “Call me next time you get lonely, then. We can be two people sitting in a house together. Who both give ‘mad head’.”_

_Gavin grinned, leaning close to steal a kiss. “Deal.”_

Gavin drew in a shaking breath and hauled Nines to his chest. “Baby, I love you so goddamn much. The idea of losing you kills me. I just—I want you safe. I want all of you safe, and it’s the one thing I can’t do shit about.”

“You do enough,” Nines promised him quietly. “You care so much, Gavin. It means the world to me.”

“I need you here with me,” Gavin said. “I can’t do it alone anymore.”

“I am here,” Nines said, wrapping his arms tight around Gavin. “We’re here. Together.”


End file.
